Trial of Piso (AD 20)

In AD 20 the Senate tried Gnaeus Piso. Before a verdict was reached, Piso was found dead. Tacitus records suicide, but also cites stories that he was killed, and confirms neither version (Annals 3.12–16). Fagan points out that Tiberius sat in the Senate motionless and let the trial run its course.

The Senate’s decree on this case, engraved in bronze, was found in Spain and published in 1996. It confirms the course of the trial and does not mention poison (Damon 1999, Lott 2012).